A woman was left shocked by her friend's request when she invited herself on her honeymoon.
The woman and her new husband have a number of children between them and instead of having a romantic honeymoon they decided to take all the kids away with them on a trip as a family.
Her best friend of over 30 years has children of the same age as the couple's, so they invited them along too, as all the children get along well. She said: "We were looking forward to chilling out in the evenings to gather whilst the kids played harmoniously."
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But whilst she was chatting to another friend, telling her of their road trip plans, as one of the places they planned on visiting was also one of her favourite places, she unexpectedly said she would come too.
In a post on website mumsnet, the woman said: "She's a high drama person, very controlling and this isn't what I want. Problem is she said it in front of the kids who got excited about her coming so they have been chatting away all week now about the plans." You can get more stories like this by subscribing to our newsletters here.
She said her friend was offering to pay for herself so that wasn't the issue, but she added: "It's that she doesn't have kids, and has mental health issues that can be quite overwhelming to manage. She's had a horrible year but she's really hard work and does need managing. She also doesn't know the one friend we have actually invited."
The woman asked for the advice of other mums on Mumsnet, as she said the holiday would be a 'nightmare' if her other friend were to come along, but she said she needed advice on how to tactfully manage the situation so that she didn't offend her friend. A new mum was left furious after her friend said her son's name was 'associated with badly behaved boys'. You can read more about that here.
In the comments, one woman said: "I think I would start out by saying, 'I'm really sorry but I don't think you joining us is going to work'. That way she knows from the outset where the conversation is heading. It helps that it's basically true that Friend 1 would not be comfortable, you can do the whole 'it puts me in an impossible position....it means her kids will miss out....' thing with a clear conscience"
One other added: "I think you should use Friend 1 as an excuse, too. Say something like "hey, after speaking with Friend 1 I don't think it'll work - she's really dying to spend time with me and DH, plus she's a bit shy. It would be great to spend some time one on one with you, why don't we go to the zoo/Devon/the mall when we get back?"
Another said: "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh. I can imagine it was difficult to say no when your honeymoon already sounded unconventional, with kids and another friend coming. But even so - who invites themselves on someone else's holiday! No wonder you were taken by surprise. I know you're worried about your friend and a possible misery spiral, but actually, she wasn't too worried about your or your feelings when she invited herself on your honeymoon. Stand strong!"
